The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

tions. This atmosphere of caution and censorship
may also have had an effect on the choice of chil-
dren’s books published during the decade and may
have encouraged the publication of informational
books, beginning-reader picture books, and poetry,
among other potentially less controversial fare.

Impact The 1980’s produced several books that
were both good business and good for children. The
mergers and acquisitions that some critics feared
would negatively impact the publishing industry did
not as a whole reduce the quality of the books being
published. Despite a reduction in books about mi-
norities and other cultures, large amounts of money
became available to pay top artists such as Chris Van
Allsburg, who earned previously unheard of ad-
vances for their illustrations. The top illustrators like
Van Allsburg and Sendak became celebrities, and
children’s book illustration became a prestigious
field. In addition, certain categories of children’s
books did particularly well during the 1980’s, both
because of the demand for books to be used in
literature-based classrooms and because their often
less controversial nature exempted them from the
censorship practices of the decade.

Further Reading
Billington, Elizabeth T., ed.The Randolph Caldecott
Treasur y. New York: Frederick Warne, 1978. His-
tory of the illustrator and namesake of the presti-
gious Caldecott Medal, awarded yearly for best il-
lustration in a children’s picture book.
Darigan, Daniel L., Michael O. Tunnel, and James S.
Jacobs.Children’s Literature: Engaging Teachers and
Children in Good Books. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Merrill/Prentice Hall, 2002. This textbook, in-
tended primarily for students planning to be
teachers, offers excellent overviews of children’s
book genres, as well as many thorough lists of chil-
dren’s books and their authors.
Lanes, Selma G.The Art of Maurice Sendak. New York:
Abrams, 1980. An interesting and comprehensive
study of a major children’s book author and illus-
trator who, though the celebrated recipient of
various awards, has also been the subject of cen-
sorship for his illustrations.
Leepson, Marc. “The Book Business.”Editorial Re-
search Reports, 1985.Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: CQ
Press, 1985. This issue ofCongressional Quarterly
addresses the concerns about mergers and acqui-
sitions in publishing during the 1980’s.

Temple, Charles, et al.Children’s Books in Children’s

Hands: An Introduction to Their Literature. 2d ed.

Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2002. This textbook of-

fers a different way of organizing children’s litera-

ture, with an emphasis on the literature-based

classroom.

Laurie Lykken

See also Book publishing; Children’s television;

Education in Canada; Education in the United States;

Poetry.

Children’s television

Definition Television programming designed

primarily for children or for a mixed child and

adult audience

During the 1980’s, television programming attempted to

entertain, educate, socialize, and inform children in both

the United States and Canada. The advent of cable televi-

sion increased children’s viewing options, and relaxation

of advertising guidelines made possible entire shows de-

voted to characters who were also commodities available for

purchase.

Since the early days of television broadcasting, chil-

dren’s programming has been an integral part of the

medium. Likewise, for several generations television

has been an important part of children’s lives. Dur-

ing the 1980’s, however, the children’s television

landscape changed, as children were treated in-

creasingly as consumers, not only of material goods

but also of information. Children no longer simply

needed to be entertained by television shows; they

also needed to be, in some respects, educated and

informed. Although adult programs of previous de-

cades had explored complex social or moral issues,

children’s television shows rarely offered any discus-

sion of these topics. However, in the 1980’s many

children’s television programs began to address seri-

ous concerns, as they incorporated lessons meant to

help children discover more about society and their

role in it.

Educational and Informative Programming Two

mainstays of children’s educational television in the

United States wereSesame StreetandMister Rogers’

Neighborhood, both broadcast on the Public Broad-

casting System (PBS). By the 1980’s,Sesame Streethad

The Eighties in America Children’s television
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